There is a virtually endless list of applications for devices that can provide stimuli to and/or receive output from and/or detect states of an object or sample, including living organisms, machines, chemicals, biological samples, etc. For example an electrical conductor (e.g., a wire or an electrode) can deliver electrical energy to an object or sample to stimulate the object or sample. Also, an electrical conductor can sense an electrical impulse produced by the object or sample. An optical fiber can deliver light to an object or sample, and can guide light reflected from, transmitted through, or produced by the object or sample to a detector. Bundles of electrical conductors and optical fibers can be used to deliver or receive a multiplicity of electrical and/or optical signals from an object or sample or a multiplicity of objects or samples.
As technology advances, the fabrication and use of ever smaller electrical conductors and optical fibers and higher densities of conductors and fibers has become desirable.